Hi. Could someone tell me if there is a way to configure an override for this alert which specifies which zones you wish to see alerts about?The alert monitor is DNS Library WINS TTL monitor and we have three zones that we do not want to see in the body of the alert.Thanks.

It dont seems to be a option on the monitor, not if you cant exclude a WINS connector? Take a look in the dns MP guide and see if there is any information about this.Anders Bengtsson | Microsoft MVP - Operations Manager | http://www.contoso.se

There is nothing in the documentation about this. Should I just disable the alert?

The TS would have to create and configure a host in each winsserver (group) he uses as there might be different ones as each dns zone can be configured for wins lookup. When you remove that checkbox the wins connector won't be monitored either. (this is besides the fact the script works or not. I've seen it work, but also loads of false positives). But as there are so many bugs and probably so much incorrect setups by admins (no blame, it's not documented). e.g. the "placeholder" here must only exist wins, bc if the record exists in dns it will just be resolved in dns. So no "wins connector" will be checked at all, which is the basic idea of this monitor. Here we can vote now for feedback to MS about mp's. I've created to rewrite the dns mp as it's one of the worst mp's: https://connect.microsoft.com/OpsMgr/feedback/details/630115/rewrite-dns-entirely write your own and vote for important others too (please AD, print server, DHCP :)). MS says they listen to the feedback allthough i really need to see some proof first. https://connect.microsoft.com/OpsMgr/Feedback Rob Korving http://jama00.wordpress.com/

I am having the same issue with this in my lab environment and I've tried numerous configurations in order to get this to work, but to no avail. I have tried creating a record called "PLACEHOLDER" (which is the default record the monitor checks for) in the WINS database. The monitor went critical. I also created an A record called "placeholder" in the DNS zone that has the WINS connector enabled and reset the monitor. The monitor went critical again. I found the .vbs script used in the monitor called ttl.vbs and ran it manually as per the instructions on the below link and the output seems to return an Error even though running the nslookup query with the proper parameters works correctly. The link below suggests that the script (ttl.vbs) doesn't work as expected and the monitor needs to be disabled and re-created. So far I've seen nothing to indicate that he is wrong. he also advises that in order for this monitoring to work there must only be a record called placeholder in WINS not in DNS. Has anyone gotten this monitor to work correctly? If so how? The MP guide is more than useless in setting this up correctly. http://jama00.wordpress.com/2010/08/26/wins-connector-alert/Marc Schmieder

Thank you for the response Rob. Ok so I'm not sure that I'm getting what you are saying. Are you saying that this particular monitor will work as long as WINS is configured properly, but that you've also seen many false positives? As far as I can tell, I've done everything correct, but it still doesn't work. I haven't torn apart the MP to get to the script, but this would seem to be a straight forward config? Did you see the link I sent? It claims this is broken out of the box.... Anyway I configured a Unique WINS record called PLACEHOLDER. Is this correct or should it be of another type?Marc Schmieder

Thank you for the response Rob. Ok so I'm not sure that I'm getting what you are saying. Are you saying that this particular monitor will work as long as WINS is configured properly, but that you've also seen many false positives? As far as I can tell, I've done everything correct, but it still doesn't work. I haven't torn apart the MP to get to the script, but this would seem to be a straight forward config? Did you see the link I sent? It claims this is broken out of the box.... Anyway I configured a Unique WINS record called PLACEHOLDER. Is this correct or should it be of another type?Marc Schmieder

i wrote that blog :). If you have created a record "placeholder" in wins and can do a "nslookup placeholder.your.domain" and it returns the ip you configured then you've done everything correct, the script just doesn't recognise the correct response. Disable it or find you why the script fails exactly. I've seen the script doing ok as well, but i've never figured in what situation it will/won't work. I've disabled the monitor, because the wins lookup most likely is not important anymore (your dns server is doing the wins lookup) as everything is will be in dns anyway (i don't say to deinstall wins here, clients may still need to perform wins lookup directly). Also i pointed out that the DNS mp is old and still an upgraded mom 2005 (written for mom2000 probably) management pack. It has loads of bugs and tests, which add no value just cause extra load on your dns servers when you don't configure them correctly. So please vote on connect so MS can write a new and improved dns mp.Rob Korving http://jama00.wordpress.com/

i wrote that blog :). If you have created a record "placeholder" in wins and can do a "nslookup placeholder.your.domain" and it returns the ip you configured then you've done everything correct, the script just doesn't recognise the correct response. Disable it or find you why the script fails exactly. I've seen the script doing ok as well, but i've never figured in what situation it will/won't work. I've disabled the monitor, because the wins lookup most likely is not important anymore (your dns server is doing the wins lookup) as everything is will be in dns anyway (i don't say to deinstall wins here, clients may still need to perform wins lookup directly). Also i pointed out that the DNS mp is old and still an upgraded mom 2005 (written for mom2000 probably) management pack. It has loads of bugs and tests, which add no value just cause extra load on your dns servers when you don't configure them correctly. So please vote on connect so MS can write a new and improved dns mp.Rob Korving http://jama00.wordpress.com/